Children spend their free time ______.

In the early years of television, educational specialists believed that it would be very useful in teaching and learning. Many schools have bought television sets, intending to use them effectively to improve the quality of education; but actually, they are rarely used properly in classrooms. Meanwhile, children spend the majority of their out-of-school hours watching TV and their typical school days proceed as if television did not exist.

There are some explanations for the failure of television to get the interest of the teachers. Firstly, the schools that purchased television sets have not set aside money for equipment repairs and maintenance, so these television sets are sooner and later out of order. Secondly these schools have not found an effective way to train teachers to integrate television into their ongoing instructional programs. Lastly, most teachers do not regard the quality of television and its usefulness in the classroom.

Teachers at the schools work hard for at least twelve years to train their students to become good readers. However, according to recent statistics, teenagers seldom spend their free time reading books and newspapers but watching television instead.